Quote:
Originally Posted by
Dr Millmoss 
What's "fake" about the video?
In fact it looks a lot like something Apple might do. A public demo also doesn't tell you much except that they've got working prototypes. I don't have any idea whether this product will be any good, or whether it will ship in three or six months, or never. But I think it's silly to criticize RIM for pre-announcing the product with a gee-wiz video, when that's exactly the kind of thing Apple does, and does so well.
I have used Apple products for quite sometime. I never followed their press conferences, until recently.
I have yet encountered an instance when Apple announced a product without a working prototype (see c
aveat below)-- not just a "mock-up" of a concept product, like many tech companies do.
Was it many many years ago when Bill Gates, with all the fanfare, even a prototype to show, announced the coming Microsoft handheld tablet computer, stylus and all? It was supposed to revolutionize mobile computing. I was so ecstatic then when I became more familiar with the ways of Gates, and Microsoft. Until now, some Apple detractors use the Bill Gates demo to suggest that MS was the first to conceive such a tablet device???
It is not exactly the same analogy, but the "boy who cried wolf, or something comes to mind" -- "It's coming! It's coming! It's coming!" -- or some related parables and stories. In this case, the "alarmist" made the proclamation so many times that later on, no one believed him, when the menace really came.
Microsoft and Bill Gates, touted so many "concept" products before, sometimes even with actual "prototypes", only to be proved illusory as actual consumer products. Was in only this year when they shelved the latest iteration of the "clam shell" tablet, after the iPad was announced, and even before it was known to be a success?
What was more in character, was that when Microsoft actually comes out with a consumer product, that was sure to resonate with consumers, the latter seemed to look somewhere else? Zune, and yeah, their iPhone killers (that I cannot even recall now, that had to be abandoned, only after? They still have faith on the Zune though, and the incoming "Windows 7 Phone?" or whatever it may be called in the future.
Announcemens, like this by RIM thought is not just limited to computer/software ccompanies. Remember all those mock up products of mass media companies that were supposed to exploit the potential of the innovative promises of the iPad, or similar table devices? Until now, they remain "video demos". I have yet to see a working magazine App that truly exploits the capabilities of the tablet.
In fact, as many people in the know, even so-called journalists and analysts, may even already subconsciously imbibed:
"There are announcements. And, there are Apple product announcements." The Pew research just confirmed this.
If I have to hazard, even Apple haters, accept this. Otherwise, I feel at a lost to understand why some people spends so much time in forums, like this, to share they thoughts about products they profess to be subpar to, and extolling those from other companies, or those "concept products yet to come. "They're coming! They're coming!" (many times, they do not come at all)
What makes Apple different? Until Apple has a working prototype, in their quarterly press conferences for their financial report, Apple reps never confirm nor deny, about a purported (every analyst is so sure) prduct will be manufactured by Apple. As it turned out, many of those rumors, were untrue.
Even if it were true, Apple would not confirm or deny its existence, until they are ready to announce, that indeed a product is coming. Is it any wonder why "many" get so "excited" to a frenzy sometimes, even Apple and Steve Jobs detractors, schedule an "Announcement"?
By the time, they announce a "working prototype", they already have a good idea what the price would be -- because they already are at manufacturing stage to be able to estimate the cost to manufacture (e.g., the iPad, iPods), and/or have already negotiated with any company that will subsidize the product, AT&T, and respective telcos in other countries with the iPhone), and sorts of costs associated with the sale of a new product.
The "grand announcement" of Apple of a "new product therefore gets much attention, because it allows pundits to claim they made a correct prognostication. Apart from being truly innovative or one that may resonate with the average consumer, everyone knows that the product will indeed come.
Can you say that of Microsoft announcements, or all those demos that come out every year at the CES? Or, those "grand announcements" by many companies?
If there is one caveat to what I stated above, one that I could think of would be the "white iPhone 4". I am not privy to any insider of Apple, including how things are manufactured. However, if I give Apple the benefit of the doubt, and be more "generous", I would surmise that it is just Steve Jobs being picky about the most minute details, like the color of the "white iPhone". After all, except for the manufacture of the outer casing, the black iPhone was not only a working prototype, but was actually a "consumer product" -- much desired, in spite of all the "Antennagate" that seem to just have disappeared in the media.
I wonder sometimes why everyone in the massmedia, and Consumer Report, seem to have had amnesia, considering how they portrayed the problem.
Is it any wonder why Apple gets so much press coverage? Is it any wonder why many people love Apple so much, a devotion they do not seem to bestow to any tech company? Is it any wonder why many people hate Apple and Steve Jobs?
Just curious where you will categorize yourself?
Personally, I would like for other companies to come up with viable competition to any Apple product. However I feel about Android phones, for example, or whatever motivated Google to do so, I am glad that they are making Apple rethink their strategies. More power to companies that can truly comoete with any Apple products. It prods Apple to innovate even further.
I feel disgusted sometimes with the tendency of both parties to attempt to justify the choices of Apple, as if they as if those specifications are sacrosant -- "Apple can do no mistake", and for the adversary to nit pick or overblow, any "missing" specification, and then extoll products of the competition, even before it was even in their hands.
Where is the spirit to help each other find the best, for us consumers?
When I first came here, or for that matter, related forums, I thought it would be a good way to learn from the expertise and/or experience of others. And, I did post a few inquiries, in the past.
No one ever responded, "Google" to my requests, but to those who respond with "Google it!", or something similar to some posts here: "What were you trying to say?" Do you honestly believe that someone who found a site, like "AppleInsider", never heard of "Google"? Geez, "AppleInsider" must be inherently known to everyone.
Is it really just plain laziness on the part of the poster? Or, they were seeking more elaborations, from people they think may have more technical experties than themselves?
Why is it that the "outrageous" posts, from our perspective, elicit the most response? Do we really think our chosen adversary will change their mind?
What are our priorities here? Just curious: What did we think we really achieved after posting hundreds, sometimes thousands of posts, in this forum?
CGC
N.B.
The emphasis (bold) in the quote above was mine. Not that I considered the quoted post the most bizzare, but something else resonated.
These are ads which, IIRC, ran after the iPod itself was introduced and demoed. It wasn't a product introduction.
